Jesus came as priest and king. God always had this as his ideal situation. He wanted and dreamed that one day he would raise up a generation of kings and priests. You are part of the last day church that is kings and priests. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9) Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 1:5) Jesus loves us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.’” (Revelation 5:8-10)
But there’s a problem: we are weak when it comes to living out the kingly role we have been given. Most Christians are really good about the priestly part of the calling. They worship and pray and sacrifice. But on the kingly side, when we should represent God’s power and authority on the earth and command things to change, we seem powerless. We have a victim mentality that holds us back. But we’re not victims, we are victors. We don’t ask God for the victory, we already have the victory. We aren’t searching for the victory, we are living the victory. We don’t move to victory, we move from victory. That’s what Christ has done for us.
But how do we operate in the authority of the king? He gave us the tools, we just have to use them. One set of tools is the gifts of the Spirit.
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)
They are power. They are there to give us the ability to operate in real, Godly authority in the world. Couple the gifts with humility, and we are walking as he did. We have diminished the power given to us because we are afraid to be prideful. This is why humility is vital. We need it to stay out of pride. The focus has been totally on humility. The truth is, humility without power is weakness, and power without humility is pride and arrogance.
The priesthood side of your life is the fruit of the spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22) This makes me like Jesus. The gifts of the spirit allow me to work like Jesus. The fruit enable me to live like Jesus. Whenever we get lopsided, if we are always analyzing ourselves and working all the time toward purity, we miss the power that is imbued to us. If we are constantly focused on power, we miss the things that need to change in us to make us like Him. We need both wings. We are eagles. We are kings and priests. We are kings and queens and priests. When we come to church, we come as priests, and we worship the King.
Then, as we leave the church, he hands us our crowns and swords and says that we shouldn’t forget who we are: Kings and Queens. He wants us to reign in the earth for him. When the kingdom comes to you, it can come through you. God’s dream in the last days is for us to stop thinking as victims. When we see persecution, we are to do what Jesus said: rejoice. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12) Any fight the devil picks, God will win. The devil may start it, but Jesus will finish it. The last page shows us that we win. A glorious church that wins.
